Now if you open the refrigerator there is a thing of milk (which belongs in every cat’s fridge) and a thing of cheese.
Why would a cat have cheese in the fridge? Well, in my mind, either he and the mouse are friends and the cheese is for the mouse, or perhaps the cat uses the cheese when he’s trying to catch mice . . . whatever the reason, there’s cheese in the fridge, which is exactly what the mouse is going for.
Notice, also, that there is another slit in the page, just below the cheese.
The mouse goes into the fridge and into the cheese!
Yes, there is a whole page devoted to cheese! A little “slice” of mouse heaven.
When the mouse goes through the hole in the refrigerator he comes up on this page and appears to be inside the cheese . . . yummy!
On the second page here we finally see “the CAT”!!
But, fortunately, the cat is sleeping (and dreaming of mice)
Also on this page is our last slit which allows the mouse to go safely into his hole.
Officially that is the end of the book . . . this is the last page, and also the back cover of the book.
But “unofficially” there is still one page more that I made as sort of a “secret page”. After all, who wouldn’t be curious to see what’s inside the mouse hole?
So, if you look turn to the back cover there are two “flaps” that are valcroed together, and when you open them up you can see what’s inside the
mouse hole – his own little “Home Sweet Home”
Well, that’s it! I hope you’ve enjoyed the little tour of my Mouse in the House busy book!
If you want to see my other busy book projects you can view them here:
Mouse in the House Busy Book
As I was working on my last busy book project, I suddenly had an idea that developed into yet another busy book.
This project is unlike any other busy book I have seen, and as far as I know there aren’t any quiet like it as of yet.
The inspiration for this project actually came from a book I remember seeing many years ago. . . an Usborne interactive book that had a little mouse you could pass through different slots in each of the pages.
So this project was my attempt at turning that idea into a felt busy book.
The cover of this book may look simple, but I actually found it to be a challenge trying to make it work in felt.
I put a layer of cardboard in-between the layers of this cover page to give it more support. There is also a layer of plastic in the window spaces making the windows “see-through”.
The title at the bottom of the page “Mouse in the House” is written on paper and sewn behind a slip of plastic.
The door opens and closes and the space behind the door is completely cut out so the mouse can actually go into the house (which is the whole idea of the book). I put buttons as the handle for the door, one button on either side. The buttons are a big hit with my 1-year-old daughter, who is really into textures of any kind at this time.
The mouse, itself, is the main feature of the book. He is completely free to be played with and to be moved about. I actually made TWO of these mice to go with the book, just incase one were to get lost (which is bound to happen eventually)
The mouse is pretty small, only about 2-1/2 inches long (not counting the tail). The entire book, actually, is meant to be pretty small. I wanted it to be small enough to fit in a purse to easily carry around with us so as to entertain our little girl at any time or in any place.
This front page measures 8-1/2 inches from the tip of the roof to the bottom of the page. The other pages are a couple inches shorter, since the roof of the house is only on the cover and not on any of the follow pages of the book.
The first pages of the book are a living room scene. This is the room of the house that the mouse enters when he first comes through the front door.
On every page page of this book I have put something that is meant to “hint” to the fact that this house actually belongs to a cat! So on the first page there is a door mat with cat paws and on the second page there is a picture of a cat in the picture frame on the wall.
The very unique part about this book is the openings or slits that are on every page. These “secret passages” are for the mouse to go through, making it possible for him to pass from one page to the next as he ventures from one room to another in the house.
We have already seen the open door on the first page. Now on the second page if you lift the cushion of the sofa there is a hidden slit underneath that the mouse can go through (and yes, he does actually fit through it, which is lots of fun!)
When the mouse goes through the hole in the sofa he comes up on the next page in the kitchen.
There’s a slit in the page just behind the table cloth, so it looks like he comes up at the chair at the dinning table.
And since this house belongs to a cat the meal being served is fish, and if you open the counters you can find a cooking pot and some cans of tuna!
